The Affiliate Business Guide for Beginners

An affiliate business is one of the less complicated online business
models you can venture into. It requires very little to actually get
started and risks involved are minimal.

It’s no quick overnight riches, mind you. You still have to put up a
lot of work, time and commitment. But whether you’re a working mom
interested in working from home or a stay-at-home parent willing to earn
that extra income, becoming an affiliate marketer can be the perfect
option for you.

What Is Affiliate Business?

Your task as an affiliate is to attract visitors and direct them
to the site of the company you sign up with. You are the middleman in
charge of promoting products and/or services and in turn they pay you
commission for doing so.

Two of the main ways of earning affiliate income include :-

Commission based upon the amount of sales you generate.

“Pay-per-click” – that is, the company pays you so much each time someone clicks on a link that leads to their website.

It is critical that when you decide to participate in a
company’s affiliate program, you read all of their terms and conditions
as they all vary. Some have bigger differences than others.

You also need to know of any restrictions that the company may
have. Some companies only allow you to list their ads so many times on a
page or only on certain pages. Other companies may prevent you from
actually making mention of their ads. It is very important to know what
these guidelines are because if you violate them (even accidentally)
they may terminate their contract with you as an affiliate.

Some affiliate programs offer 2-tiers of income levels. It is
important to know this information as well so that you can market
accordingly. Basically, when a business offers a “Tier 2” to their
affiliates means that the affiliate earns commission from all affiliates
introduced to the program by him/her.

Advantages To Becoming An Affiliate Marketer

One of the biggest pluses to the affiliate business is that there
is absolutely no inventory, no invoicing, no packaging, no shipping and
no customer complaints involved.

Other benefits include :-

Start-up capital is low compared to other business options.

No need to create any products. The company will take care of that. Your job is to find goods related to the industry you’re in and recommend them to your target market.

Flexibility – you can work anytime and from anywhere as long as you have a computer and an internet connection.

Easy to test – you can join various programs. Then observe and compare what works and what not.

How To Start Your Own Affiliate Business

You definitely need to build a blog or a website as this is the place (in my mind I picture it as a sort of a Head Office) where all the information you supply such as articles, videos, newsletters and links are 'gathered'.

Before that, though, you start off by doing the following :-

Find a topic – Go for a subject you already know
something about, or at least interests you and willing to learn and
study further. Examples include a hobby, work experience, challenges
you managed to overcome.

Know your target market – it’s very important that you determine who
you specifically intend to reach. Map out exactly who they are –
gender, age, status, background, income - anything that comes to mind
that will help you sketch a very clear picture of who they are. Do not
try to reach everyone as you end up reaching no one.

Find and purchase a domain name and find a place to
host it. Many places offer both of these services making it very easy.
When in doubt, don’t be afraid to use the support system that they
offer. They are there to help and you will find no one better than those
you sign up with, to give you the exact assistance you might need.
GoDaddy
and
HostGator
are both resources that offer domain names and web hosting all in the same location.

Install a visually appealing web design. This
probably is the most intimidating portion of this entire process. But
many sites that offer the domain names and web hosting also offer basic
templates as well.

Fill your site with valuable content. People must
feel better after consuming your information – they must feel they got something
out of it. If you are not an experienced writer you may want to hire
this portion out. By establishing a reputation for providing good and
useful resources you will build trust and credibility with your
audience. You can also write reviews for items or endorse certain
products as well.

You then have to start driving traffic to your
site. This can be done in a number of ways. You can write articles that
relate to your site's subject matter and post on various sites such as
EzineArticles, Hubpages, Squidoo. You can post comments with your link
on blogs or forums. If you choose to do this, make sure your comments
are tactful and relevant. You do not want to “spam” these sites.

Once you have your site established with solid
information and has initiated to build up interest, it is time to start
advertising your affiliate business partners. Make sure that these
relate to the theme of your site and the audience you earmark.
Visitors read your content for a specific reason – normally to find ways
to solve a problem, to learn new things or to look for information.
Thus, if all three are connected to “the why” that person originally
clicked on your site, the more chances the featured ads get seen.

How To Join Affiliate Programs

These do not cost anything to join. Remember, this is
advertisement for the company – you should not be paying THEM to
advertise for THEM. Be very cautious of those who charge.

There are several websites that list affiliate programs that are
available. By doing a Google search for affiliate programs that are
related to your niche, you should be able to find several
that will fit your needs.

When you determine which program(s) you’re going to join, all you
need to do is go to the respective site, click on ‘Affiliate Program’
or ‘Become an Affiliate’ in the Menu Bar and follow the instructions.
Sometimes this information will be listed at the very bottom of the
website as well. Otherwise, you can simply send an e-mail to the
particular company asking to become their affiliate.

As you find an affiliate program you want to sign up with, you’ll
need to follow their protocol for joining. These vary from company to
company. Some are stricter than others. If your application process
happens to be denied – do not be discouraged. There are dozens of
additional affiliate business program opportunities out there.

What To Look For Before Joining

Most companies will offer some bells and whistles to attract affiliates. After all, affiliates generate business for them.

Instead, go for companies that offer support, tools and resources to
their affiliates. These will guide you and offer strategies, tips and
techniques on how, when and to whom you can potentially market their
products. Some also have forums where members communicate with one
other – sort of help and be helped.

Additional Information You Need To Know In The Affiliate Business

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Once you are in the online business environment, you are going to hear the term “Search Engine
Optimization” or “SEO” frequently. This means that you try to optimize
the content of the web pages you create, so that Search Engines (SEs)
like Google, Yahoo! and Bing will find them.

There are various techniques you may follow. You can start with a combination of :-

using the right keyword phrases that are frequently searched for and

placing them strategically throughout your content.

Your aim is to attract free traffic, also called organic traffic, to your content by ranking high in search engines.

This may sound complicated at first but you’ll realize that over
time, as you create more and more content, it becomes second nature.

2. Social Networking

Another popular concept you will want to learn more about is social networking and how it can help you promote your business.

Popular social media networks include sites like Facebook,
Google+, MySpace and Twitter. (Twitter is a micro-blogging site meaning that
its users post short content – in this case up to a maximum of 140
characters).

Learn how to promote your business in a tactful
way that won’t offend people and actually turn them away from your
business.

SEO and social networking are both very powerful tools that can be used to your advantage in your business if “worked” in the
right way.

This website offers a lot of information on how to build your affiliate
business from start to finish. It also provides an affiliate directory,
as well as a variety of tools to help you market your business.

P.S. I have no affiliation whatsoever with any of the
suggested websites mentioned in this article. They’re mentioned on the
basis of research and recommendations from peers operating in the same
field as mine.